Dropped 58 F100, napa shocks suck!!! Any better ideas to lessen the bounce?

Listen, I am not trying to pick a fight with anyone on here.. I am pretty knowledgeable about these things, but consider most dudes on here well more experienced and more of an expert then myself. With that said, the problem I am having with my truck, is this.

After we did the mono leafs in the front, and the spring under in the rear we measured and found the correct length shocks. After installing the shocks it did not ride any different than it did without the shocks. It bounces and bottoms out weather there is shocks or not.. That is why a few of us working on this truck are stummped..

I can take the shocks out and drive it down the road and it drives the same if when they were in.... That is why I am asking if anybody else has had this problem or knows of a solution.

It might be time for new springs in the rear, I get that, they are old..I am just trying to find out if there is a more simple way to help make it a safer driver.

I bought this thing after my divorce to spend some quality time with my daughter on my days off.. She loves daddys hot rods and it brings joy to me to spend time with her hot rodding. I just want to feel a little safer knowing that maybe there is a better shock/ride combo that someone else has tested out before me..

 

That's because shocks have virtually nothing to do with whether or not you bottom out - that's the spring's job! Notice how you can easily compress even a gas-charged shock by yourself....they do very little to control suspension travel. They simply try to keep the car from bounding along the road.

Sounds like you need more suspension travel or stiffer springs. Doesn't sound like your shock choice is right either, but shocks aren't gonna fix your bottoming out.

 

I cant understand why it would bounce more just because the rearend is on top of the springs. That doesn't make any sense to me.

 

Somebody earlier asked for pics.. here a few quick ones I took before I had to take off tonight..

This is the first Ford Truck I have owned and I am not familiar with the tricks of these... I have owned many of truck in the 60-72 chev erea which are much easier to trouble shoot with coil suspension, in my opinion.. Plus in the chev stuff there are way more parts available.


Thanks for the help guys.

 

Well I wouldn't want the rear shocks laying down any more then they are now thats for sure. Can you fab a new mount and go with a shorter shock to get it more upright?

 

Your front spring looks like it has a reversed arch. Is it designed like that or is the weight of the vehicle causing it?

Oh and cool deal with spending some time with your daughter around an old truck.

 

This doesn't sound like a shock problem to me. Shocks will not make any noticeable difference on your load carrying capability. Shocks are not made to hold weight. If it is bottoming, it is your SPRINGS.

You have the shock angle waaaaay wrong on the front. Anything over 50 degrees and your shock is only doing half of the damping it is designed to do.

You have almost NO suspension travel, and NO bump stops. I could see having no bumpstops with a notch....but NO travel and NO bumpstops?!? Take that thing off the road and fix it before you kill someone.

This is what I would do:
1) Notch the front framerails
2) Install bump stops front and rear
3) Fab new shock mounts front and rear that are closer to 5-25 degrees of shock angle
4) Install shorter shocks.... best choice is gas charged ones.

 

Too much shock angle. You need to relocate the mounts so the shock is more vertical. At that angle (especially the rear) your shocks are doing virtually no dampening. That's why it feels the same with or without them in it.

Your front shocks, aside from looking beat to death, look to be only traveling about a half inch based on the looks of the shaft. A production shock can't do much to control movement with a 1/2 inch of travel.

 

How much distance do you have between the bottom of the frame and the top of the spring in front? And are the bottoming issues only in the front or the rear as well? The front looks way to close to the frame, you generally need at least 2 1/2 inches of normal travel for a decent ride. I have gotten away with 2" in some cases but the springs I was using must have had a better "rate" to them and I got lucky.It also looks as though that shock does not have the sufficient travel to it as well, The pics could be misleading but at least it gives you something to look at for the issue.hope you figure it out good luck.

 

Your problem is for sure in the "SPRINGS" and not the "SHOCKS". I think it has to do with "SPRUNG WEIGHT" and "UN-SPRUNG WEIGHT".......my 2 cents......

 

That front shock is bottomed out just sitting there.

 

There is brand new shorty bump stops in the rear.. I had the Cnotch done by a local shop and its done very clean and correct, Front bump stops were shaved down

I put on the reversed Eye mono leafs you buy from SacVintage Ford or Speedway.. They also come with the Nitro drop shocks..I only went with this kit cause it said there was no fab work in front.. I can tell the shock angle is worng but I wonder why they bullshit you and send you a kit with the shorter shocks.. The shock angle you see the stock one with shorter shocks. I have not touched any angles.

Front shocks are brand new and only have about 5 miles on them. They only look bad cause they have some antifreez over flow on the out side.. I kept with the stock shock mount like others have done.. Looks like I will have to build my own shock mounts I am thinking.

Sad part is rear springs were fine when it was stock height.. now bouncy with spring under..

Its sitting there with the wight of the truck on it.. The is about 2.5 inches of travel up and down...

These springs are made for this truck with the reversed eye. I know tons of other dudes on here run them.. Cause this is where I learned about them. I am just wondering if anybody else had the same issue.. Thanks for the input.

 

Just put a new set of sensatrack gas from napa in my 70 torino rag. Awesum, what a difference. The shocks have coil springs on them also unique to the convertable

 

seriously. its not rocket science! just fix your dang shock angles, notch the front, and put some low profile stops in. Your setup is all wrong, and it wont work 100 percent correctly until you do the above things. listen to the folks on here that have done it time and time again the right way.

do it. do it now. save the HAMB the bandwidth, and don't post on the subject anymore until you fix it.

 

I dont understand how his shock angles got so funky. Before I installed the drop axle in my truck I just ran monoleafs with revesred eyes and my shock angles was fine.

 

Like I said, I have not changed the shock angles, just did mono leafs in the front, and spring under in the rear... I copied the set up of may other dudes before me.. That is all I am asking on here is what did other guys do.. Shit, some of these dudes keep yelling at me.. All I am asking for is some help, Christ.. many other dudes on here have mono leaf fronts with stock axle, or even with a drop axle and are not notched in the front. How about they give an answer..

 

One last try. You keep repeating yourself. When given advice you fall back on the same story that other guys did it and theirs is fine.
You've been given solid advice. You can take it and use it, or you can continue as you are.

It's not personal. It's just as annoying to us that you posted asking for help, and help was given, and you systematically disregard it or ignore it.

You have not yet said, "Oh yeah, I see what you mean" or "Now I understand" or even "let me try that and see if that helps".

If as you say there are many other dudes with your setup and they don't have problems, p/m them directly and deal with it that way.

Short of coming over and doing it for you, what more do you want?

 

your shock angle changed when you lowered it since you raised the lower mount in relation to the upper. so while you did not change where the shocks mount, making the distance less causes the shocks to be at more of an angle and less effective at thier job.

 

Great looking truck BTW. I am seriously missing my '60

 

Man you have had three guys (with 4 trucks) running the same set up as you respond and they all said it sucks. I don't know where all these guys running the same set up with no problems are that you keep hoping will magically appear but they obviously are not responding to this thread.

To me 5 trucks running the same set up with the same problem means it is a poorly designed setup that need some serious tweeking to get it to work right or it needs to be ditched. You have been given the answers repeatedly about what needs to be done to fix it and you ignore them looking for some mystical easy way out and then get pissy when guys get frustrated with you.

I will respectively suggest the answer you want to hear is not coming and perhaps you start listening to the answers you are being given.

 

I did the spring under with a notch and it was bottoming out. It was the center of the rear end hitting the floor. Had to raise the floor where it hit. Just a thought.

 

The way he is describing his truck sounds pretty bad booth NovaTattoo and I might not have the smoothest ride down the road but their far from getting thrown around the freeway or dangerous.

Monoleafs on 57-60 F100's aren't reinventing the wheel and neither is the axle over the springs. But I can tell you just looking at the underside pix of the front end something doesn't look right. If you still have the front spring packs do your self a favor and get the eyes reversed, go with a Sid's 3" drop axle and remove one leaf. A little bend of the pitman arm to get the draglink once again paralell with the frame and your golden. This is the method both CjMac and Hotrod59 collectively used on their trucks and I can tell you after driving Hotrod59's truck now owned by my buddy Jaime it's the best static drop there is on these trucks.

Here is how I flipped my rear spring:
I did exactly wht "Skankin Rat Fink" did on his truck. Very easy and did not change any shock angles
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=382393

 

That is why they are called JAR HEADS...

 

I will take offense to that.. At least I fought and served my country.. And I am damn proud of it.. You cant be an "Army", you cant be a "Navy", you cant be "Airforce", the only title you can Claim is "United States Marine."

BTW, only someone who was not a Marine can degrade them.. Cause they couldnt hack it as one..


Thanks for the answers guys.. After crawling under neath and having someone jump up and down I can see the shocks are doing virtually nothing.. I am gonna try to figure out a way to build custom shock mounts in the front and bring some of that angle back, and put in longer shocks.

As for the rear, I am thinking of maybe doing a more heavy duty shock or a coil over gas shock like someone suggested. Possibly having the springs rebuilt or re-arched.

Its not that was I was not listening, i was just trying to figure out what other guys with similar set ups were using, or did.. Is that the whole point of this place?.. I appreciate that advise..

I wish that I would have clipped it in the beginning instead of trying this mono leaf drop thing.. The springs were $400 not including the shocks, and it needed new kingpins too...

Ahh the joys.. Thanks guys..

 

Totally agree it was uncalled for. Good luck finding a solution.

 

Thanks for your help bro

Speaking for gas charged shocks, I put new leveling Bilsteins on my 2007 Hummer H3. HOLY SHIT what a difference.. I had the stock shocks with shock extenders on there before, along with the front end leveled to allow for 35" tires.. The Bilsteins make the front end ride so much better..


Thanks for all the input guys.. Time to start cutting and grinding off the old shock mounts and get some angle back!!!